David Myers
PAF 9199
8/9/15
Notes on “Mayor Bloomberg Address on Shaping New York City’s Future After Hurricane
Sandy”
The speech covered in this paper is the “Address on Shaping New York City’s Future After
Hurricane Sandy.” This speech, given only a couple months after the devastating Hurricane Sandy
impacted New York City, causing death and destruction in its wake. The speech was delivered by
Mayor Michael Bloomberg in December 2012 at the New York Marriott Downtown, a venue that
severely damaged as a result of the storms fierce winds and ferocious high flooding. On the
evening of the storm, “water rushed into the lobby and basement” of the hotel and “within 15
minutes, the water was up to the handles of the front door” (Mariott). As such, the recently repaired
hotel provided to be an appropriate setting for what proved to be a significant speech.
During the Hurricane Sandy event, including the days leading up to and months after the
storm, Mayor Bloomberg was a constant presence in the media. The mayor kept New Yorkers
abreast of the developments of the storm, including alerting people when to evacuate, what was
damaged and when services would be restored. What I felt made this speech so significant is that
out of the many speeches the mayor gave regarding Hurricane Sandy, this was the first after the
storm in which the mayor both acknowledged a future with more damaging weather events and
the city’s commitment to diminishing their impact. The speech in particular, given in a venue that
suffered storm damage but bounced back quickly, goes over the need to address the potential of
climate change and the ways the City will begin to take it on, in addition to fortifying itself against
its future potential.
Throughout the course of this paper, analysis on the speech will focus the following factors:
language, setting and place, and finally framing. First, the language of the speech will be examined,
with the mayor’s words closely explored to assess the impact of its message regarding climate
change. Next, the paper will approach the setting and place of the speech itself and determine how
it played a factor in how it affected the influence of its words and its receptiveness on the target
audience. Finally, the paper will see how the speech was used as a framing device as a call to
action by the New York City government and other entities to actually take concrete action against
climate change and prepare a more resilient future for the City.
Background
In understanding Mayor Bloomberg’s call to action it is necessary to examine his own
background. Before he became the City’s 108th mayor, Michael Bloomberg had already lived a
successful life. Bloomberg was born in Boston and gained a diverse education attending John
Hopkins University for undergraduate and Harvard Business School for graduate school
(NYC.Gov). Upon graduation, Bloomberg was hired by Saloman Brothers where he became an
expert on information systems, a skill that became useful after he was let go from the firm in 1981
(NYC.Gov). Being fired turned out to a godsend for Bloomberg as he used his understanding of
how information systems relate to the financial markets as the foundation for his company
Bloomberg LP. The company eventually grew to become a global media company and powerhouse
that “has over 315,000 subscribers and more than 15,000 employees worldwide” (NYC.Gov). As
a result at the time he ran for Mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was assumed to be worth an estimated
$5 billion (Roberts, 2008), a wealth created by hard work and tremendous foresight. Given his
attributes, Bloomberg as a mayor pushed a number of other forward thinking initiatives, many of
which addressed climate change.
As mayor, Bloomberg used his pulpit to tackle what he felt were large challenges that it
was up to his administration to address. One of these areas was the looming presence of climate
change and how it would eventually affect the City in the future. To this end, the Mayor had his
administration to put together a slew of proposals to “outline his vision for the city over the next
quarter century” to “setting priorities for refurbishing the city’s aging bridges, water mains, transit
system, power plants and building codes” (Cardwell and Bagli, 2007). The end result and legacy
was PlaNYC, an extensive collection of over 100 proposals put together by the City’s Office of
Long-Term Planning and Sustainability in conjunction with input with the public, businesses and
environmental experts (Cardwell and Bagli, 2007). The goal of the plan was to establish the
benchmarks for which the City could test itself against as it adapted for a new future. In explaining
the impetus for the plan, Mayor Bloomberg offered “unless we considered the full range of
challenges to our city’s physical environment, the progress we’d worked so long and so hard for
might be at risk, and it became clear that to secure a stronger, cleaner, and healthier city for our
children and grandchildren, we had to start acting now” (Cardwell and Bagli, 2007). This foresight
however was put to the test in late 2012 in the form of a destructive force of nature.
Hurricane Sandy, with its tremendous destructive and disruptive impact on New York City,
was a narrative changing storm. The storm was historical in the sense of just how unreal it was.
The storm itself was “1,000 miles from end to end” being “more than three times the size of
Hurricane Katrina” (NYC). The most destructive features of the storm however were its storm
surge of “14 feet” which shattered the “previous record of 10 feet” in addition its punishing winds
at a “maximum of 80 miles per hour” (NYC). Such a large storm had a large power, flooding “51
square miles” or “17% of the city’s total land mass” in turn affecting “more than 443,000 New
Yorkers and 88,700 buildings” (NYC). The flooding and winds resulted in the tragic deaths of 43
people “the vast majority of whom perished from downing in areas where waters rose rapidly”
(NYC). Along with those lives the storm destroyed, the storm ravaged the City’s physical
infrastructure. Rushing floodwaters led to almost 800 buildings being deemed either structurally
damaged or destroyed (NYC). Utilities also took a heavy blow from the storm as the storm
destroyed overhead electric wires and transformers without care. At least one point “close to 2
million people lost power” with “almost a third of these customers in Manhattan” (NYC).
Restoring power took “four to five days” in Manhattan and almost “two weeks” to restore overhead
wires in the outer boroughs, particularly in the Rockaways (NYC). Despite being one of the most
potent storms of recent history, Hurricane Sandy represented a taste of what was to come as storms
were expected to be more frequent and fierce in a New York City affected by climate change. This
reality was something the proactive Mayor Bloomberg couldn’t wait to take on.
The reaction of the mayor’s speech was mostly positive. News outlets praised the Mayor
for even spending “at least half of his speech to climate change…a remarkable amount of time to
reserve” (Doig, 2012). Additionally, one outlet stated that “what stood out most during the speech
was its long view” regarding “climate change solutions aimed at keeping New York a viable place
to live not just for decades, but centuries” (Doig, 2012). The Mayor’s foresight was approached as
a well-meaning thought. Others did not believe that the Mayor’s speech went far enough in terms
of content. Klaus Jacob, a professor at Columbia University stated that the mayor’s initiatives were
“fine for maybe the new few years and maybe another decade or two” and insisted that the ideas
would not do any good for fifty or one-hundred years down the line (Rubinstein, 2013).
Additionally Jacob found that Bloomberg’s proposal to develop homes in flood prone areas was
“shortsighted” as it did not take “rising sea levels into account” (Rubinstein, 2013). Given the mix
of reactions, the only way to appropriately assess Mayor Bloomberg’s speech is by exploring the
text itself.
Analysis of Speech
Language
To understand Mayor Bloomberg’s speech on how the City would address climate change
post-Sandy, it is essential to look at the text of the speech itself. Mayor Bloomberg, a product of
the business world took an approach to speeches in which he aimed to get the point across. Mayor
Bloomberg was famous for his love of incorporating data, having the mind “of an impassive
number cruncher” and was known more for “his business acumen, not his eloquence behind a
lectern” (Barbaro, 2011). This aspect showed itself in Bloomberg’s speech as the Mayor offered
informational quips such as “If you paint your roofs while it reflects the sun, and in a five-story
building it reduces the total energy needs of that building…by something like a quarter”
(Bloomberg, 2012). By emphasizing data points, the Mayor was able to make concreate and
tangible points that were able to impact the audience. In describing how there was no longer piles
of debris in Staten Island, the Mayor was able to easily give off that “the numbers are north of
350,000 tons of debris that were removed” (Bloomberg, 2012).
Though data has a reputation for being cold and direct, the Mayor was able to employ data
as a means of being engaging. For example, in establishing the City as a “leader” the Mayor states:
“you can go right back to life expectancy here in New York City is now three years greater than
the average across America. One of the reasons for that is smoking cessation…New York City did
it and a very big part of the rest of the world followed in doing exactly the same thing. We are a
leader, we have a responsibility, and I think we’re living up to that” (Bloomberg, 2012). Here, the
Mayor incorporates data as a foundation for making the point that New York City is a leader and
can stand as an example for others. Another stat the Mayor touches upon is the benchmark for
which the City has reduced its carbon footprint “by 16 percent” and assures the crowd that the City
was well on its way “of meeting our goal of a 30% reduction by 2030” (Bloomberg, 2012). To
make this point relatable and more playful, the mayor calls attention to his age: “I did the
calculation of just how old I’m going to be in 2030, but I do plan to be around to watch that”
(Bloomberg, 2012).
Another aspect in the language of the speech are the attempts that the Mayor makes to be
relatable, calling to the shared spirit of New Yorkers. For example the mayor states “Today, we
come together in the same spirit, because like those earlier generations, we believe in the promise
of our city. We believe that tomorrow can be better than today. And we know that it’s up to us to
make it so” (Bloomberg, 2012). Here, Mayor Bloomberg plays upon the shared experiences of
New Yorkers as a whole as a means to connect the text with its meaning. The Mayor employees
passages such as “I’ve always said that the City’s nearly 300,000 employees form the most
talented, dedicated work force in the world” and “In fact, the city that we know today exists, I
think it’s fair to say, only because the New Yorkers who came before us responded to tragedy and
adversity with inspired vision and impressive resolve” (Bloomberg, 2012) as a means to deepen
that historical connectedness. It is in that shared connectedness that the Mayor also employees his
most forceful language when speaking about those who live along the coast, he first mentions that
“it’s why the question I have gotten most often since the storm is not about the damage Sandy
caused, but about whether people can rebuild their homes” in order to forcefully state “Let me be
clear: We are not going to abandon the waterfront” (Bloomberg, 2012). Again, in an appeal to New
Yorker’s sense of importance and self, Bloomberg towards the end of the speech notes “New
Yorkers have never bene shy about taking on big challenges- and taking our destiny into our own
hands…There is no storm, no fire, no terrorist act that can destroy the spirit of our city, and keep
us from looking forward envisioning a better tomorrow” (Bloomberg, 2012). Though a bit heavy
handed, this passage calls upon the City’s shared “toughness” in not only surviving the storm but
taking on future challenges. In what it was an especially craftful combination that encapsulated the
essence of what the Mayor wanted to get across, the Mayor delivers a key line: “But remember:
there are no panaceas or magic bullets. No matter what we do: the tides will continue to come inand so we have to make our city more resilient in other ways, especially when it comes to our
critical infrastructure (Bloomberg, 2012). The language however, is reinforced further in the
context of not only where the mayor delivers his speech but who he delivers it to as well.
Setting and Place
When Mayor Bloomberg gave the speech, he was speaking to a New York City that had
been radically changed. By that December 2012, many parts of the City had not yet been repaired
and a number of communities were still reeling from the storm’s effects. The speech itself was
bolstered by its choice of the Marriott Downtown as a venue, which was “closed for two weeks
because of the storm” (Chen and Grynbaum, 2012). The choice of using a location that had
bounced back from the storm was very deliberate and in a sense, effective. In his speech the mayor
calls upon the hotel’s ability to bounce back as a way to tie it to the overall sense of his speech.
His words “I also want to thank all the employees of this hotel, and the Marriott family, and
everyone here in the downtown community. The recovery that they did downstairs, I walked
through some of the back rooms and you can see the waterline. It’s amazing the way people can
recover” (Bloomberg, 2012).
Linking location and its meaning is another way Bloomberg makes this speech an effective
one on climate change. In another example involving place Bloomberg recalls his trip to
Washington DC to lobby money, noting “as you fly into National Airport you fly over this
enormous power plant just upwind from Washington, DC that used to be coal fired…you wonder
what Congress was thinking given they were downwind and breathing the air, but that might
explain some of their behavior lately. I’m not sure of that” (Bloomberg, 2012). The mayor makes
more local connections, especially to areas that were as hit as hard as the Marriott. An, example in
the speech that especially resonated with the audience was the Mayor’s referring to his trip to
Breezy Point a few days after the storm. He recalls “It really was hard to believe the level of
destruction there- and it was heartbreaking to see” noting that the Mayor had “committed to them
and many others who had gathered that day that we would take special care of those who lost their
homes” (Bloomberg, 2012). This tale emphasized the connection that Mayor Bloomberg aimed to
portray in the Marriot, that the Mayor and the City would stand by and rebuild what was damaged,
retake what was lost.
In addition to the significance of the location, the speech was also charged by its
atmosphere. The speech was reported by the New York Times to have had “the bearing of a futureoriented State of the City event, with accompanying slides and even a surprise guest: former
President Al Gore” (Chen and Grynbaum, 2012). The former Vice President and now
environmental activist “repeatedly lavished praise on the mayor for his work on responding to
climate change” (Chen and Grynbaum, 2012), in turn praising the mayor’s speech. The rest of the
“invite-only” audience included executives and NGO leaders, some of who such as large
construction companies, Skanska and CH2MHill and utilities such as Verizon and Con Ed actually
sponsored the event (Pinto, 2012). By inviting such an invested crowd and addressing them on
preparing for New York’s future while in a recently re-opened hotel especially demonstrated not
only the City’s commitment but also that of its businesses. In fact the Mayor actually uses the
speech to announce that “Con Ed had committed to moving forward in the coming months with
an initial investment of $250 million…to significantly harden its electric, gas and steam systems”
(Bloomberg, 2012). Here, the staging actually does an effective job of emphasizing not only the
message of the speech but its tangible promises. This is especially important within the context of
how the mayor eventually frames his arguments and the speech itself.
Framing
Throughout his speech on post-Sandy climate change, Mayor Bloomberg takes the
opportunity to effectively frame the potential threats from climate change. In setting this stage, the
mayor takes the time to describe how the storm got to be the way it did: “this was a perfect storma hurricane that coincided with a full moon and a high tide, and it collided with a second weather
front that made it take a hard left turn, and at the worst possible place” (Bloomberg, 2012). This
little science lesson however only acts a prelude for the focus the mayor wants to take. To begin
the climate change pitch he connects the threat directly with New Yorkers, noting “we may or may
not see another storm like Sandy in our lifetimes, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that we should
leave it to our children to prepare for the possibility. We are a coastal city, a harbor city, surprise,
surprise. And sea levels are expected to rise by another two and a half feet by the time a child born
today reaches 40 years old, and that’s going to make surges even more powerful and dangerous.
And intense storms are likely to increase as the ocean’s temperatures continue to rise” (Bloomberg,
2012). This passage is important in its intensity; Mayor Bloomberg puts his full effort in setting
how climate change is not only very real, it is also coming. The mayor continued “the droughts in
the center of the country are caused by changes in the weather. You can argue about what caused
the weather to change…and that just leads to the kind of aberrations that we’re seeing…hurricanes
that take different paths, go in different directions and have different strengths” (Bloomberg,
2012). This framing is important in that the mayor can set the terms in how to approach climate
change as a concept and a reality.
After setting the concept of climate change up the mayor is then able to address how the
City can tackle it. Following his warning, the mayor states “we cannot solve the problems
associated with climate change on our own here in New York City, but I think it’s fair to say we
can lead the way. We have been, both locally and globally” (Bloomberg, 2012). Here, like with
earlier language where Bloomberg connects with New Yorkers through his language, he is able to
frame where New York City can make a difference. To further this point the mayor boldly states
“Cities are not waiting for national governments to act on climate change. Whether or not one
storm is related to climate change or is not, we have to manage for risks, and we have to be able
to better defend ourselves against extreme weather and natural disasters” (Bloomberg, 2012). This
call to action fits within the narrative Bloomberg aims to get across, that cities will need to lead
the way and set the examples on how to address climate change. The framing here is that the City
needs to lead the way when it comes to climate change. Again this ties to earlier language that
Bloomberg utilizes highlighting the “leader” nature of the City, in reference to its ban on smoking.
The mayor is banking on the idea that other cities, if they had previously followed New York’s
lead will do so once more.
Conclusion
New York City will never be the same after the fallout and damaged caused by Hurricane
Sandy. However, whereas others may have only focused on just the recovery, Mayor Bloomberg
decided to push the City to take action. His Post-Hurricane Sandy speech set the tone and course
of the actions that he planned to take in the final year of his administration. By setting a tone
through inclusive language, the mayor was able to connect with his audience and clearly lay the
foundation for his points on why climate change needed to be tackled. Next, the mayor took
advantage of the setting and place of his speech, utilizing a recovered space to emphasize further
recovery and prevention of climate change damage in the future. Finally, the mayor was able to
successfully frame his points in a way to not only draw the inclusiveness of New Yorkers but also
frame the problem that climate change poised. Though it is not a classic speech, Mayor
Bloomberg’s post-Sandy speech is an important one in how it set the terms and opened the debate
for New York City’s steps in a post climate change future.
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